Start here · the first lesson of All facing centre
All facing centre
Circular / Square Arrangement · for IPMAT Indore, IPMAT Rohtak and JIPMAT
Sign in to watch · 4 min video
The idea
People sit around a round (or square) table, all facing the centre. Clues fix seats relative to one another: k-th to the right or left, opposite, neighbours, between. Once one person is placed, every clue places someone else. JIPMAT asks one circle question most years (2023 Q15 and Q27, 2024 Q7, 2025 Q15, all banked here as PYQs).
Textbook vs exam method
Textbook method
- Draw a circle with n seats and place the person named in the most clues.
- Take the clues that fix a seat exactly (opposite, immediately right/left, k-th to the right/left).
- Use the "not next to" and "between" clues to choose among the seats left.
- Write the final order going to the right (anticlockwise) and answer from it.
Exam method
- Right = anticlockwise. when everybody faces the centre. Write an arrow on your circle once.
- Fixed clues first. opposite and immediately-next clues; conditional and negative clues last.
- Two cases. if a clue leaves two seats, draw both circles; a later clue usually kills one. If both survive, the question may be "cannot be determined".
- Distance clues. (metres around a table of known circumference): convert to seats first (50 m for 10 people = 5 m a seat).